In U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,285 to B. E. Cozzens et al., issued Feb. 24, 1987 and entitled "Sealed Insulation Displacement Connector", a type of insulation displacement connector (IDC) is disclosed wherein conductor wires are forced into an IDC terminal through the use of an elastomeric body which seals the connection and at the same time provides the pushing force to drive the conductor wire into the terminal slot. The arrangement there shown uses a push button like structure to effect termination of conductor wires to a printed circuit board which is part of an electronic package. The connector of this prior patent is particularly directed to terminating the smaller gauge wires, on the order of 18 through 28 AWG, the bulk of which are used to carry signal energy as contrasted to the heavier wires which may be employed to carry power to and from electronic devices or power supplies. The term "larger gauge wires" may be taken to mean wires from 8 to 24 gauge, there being an overlap in the smaller gauges with respect to use for both power and signal.
When terminating the smaller gauge wires in IDC devices, the forces required to strip and deform the wires inserted in slots of terminals are sufficiently low to be done manually by an operator without a tool, such forces being under 20 pounds and requiring a displacement of under a hundred thousandths of an inch to effect termination.
With respect to termination of larger gauge wires utilizing IDC techniques, the forces for termination may exceed 30 pounds and indeed extend into the range of 50 or 100 pounds, making repeated termination by an operator difficult or at least more difficult than with respect to the smaller gauge wire.
Additionally, it has been found to be important that with any IDC termination which is essentially tooless and therefore lacks the precision possible with a terminating tool to provide a very clear-cut and positive indication for the user operator, that termination has been in fact accomplished. Put another way, the pushing of a button like structure through a limited displacement, on the order of a tenth of an inch or so may not provide either the tactile or visible indication necessary for reliable use with operators of varying experience and skills.